LOST LEINSTER

Firstly, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Paris and of France as a whole. Friday night was a tragedy and the decision to call off Saturday’s game was the correct one.

The one French team playing away was Toulouse, and the decision to let their game against Saracens go ahead looked like a terrible call. Saracens were good on Saturday night we should not deny them that, but Toulouse looked like they wished they were anywhere else but on a rugby pitch and as such they were mercilessly pounded into the ground for the first 45 minutes. That they rallied in the second period and prevented Saracens from crossing a fourth time is a credit to their players.

Meanwhile, my predicted Leinster struggles came true.

I took no joy in watching the Dubliners self-implode on Sunday, eventually crashing to a 33-6 humiliation at home to Wasps. From Dave Kearney’s horror show in chasing back that box kick to Charles Piutau’s final try at the death, it was a terrible day for Leo Cullen’s men who were on the receiving end of their worst ever home defeat in Europe. Based on how they played they deserved it too.

It just was not the Leinster we are used to. In seasons gone by we would have seen Leinster get together as a team, brush off the concession of Wade’s try and come straight back at Wasps with some intent to bring the game back under control – it was the hallmark of Leinster under Joe Schmidt that they would find a way back no matter what.

But it never looked like that was the case on Sunday. Leinster looked off colour and devoid of ideas for the whole game, unable to work out how to get past the Wasps defence. Even when it was painfully obvious Wasps weren’t competing on the floor and they were instead just fanning out across the back line lying in wait Leinster still tried to go around them as opposed to going through the fringes and it cost them.

Where they were most lacking though was leadership. This is a point that has been made over and over again this week but it cannot be avoided – that Leinster side simply looked lost. There was a point during the game where a Wasps player was down injured and instead of anybody gathering the players together, the Leinster players stood individually in their own depressive state.

Where was captain Heaslip, the man expected to take over from O’Connell for the national team? Where was the usually passionate Sexton? Where was anybody stepping up to take control?

The lack of leadership just caps the number of problems Leinster had to be perfectly honest. They had the submissive scrum, the mental inability to work their way back from behind or to even get past the Wasps defence, they committed more errors, their defence let them down at crucial moments and, on top of all of that, Jonny Sexton wasn’t firing on all cylinders either and that hindered their attacking play considerably.

In the end it’s a game Leinster will want to forget in a hurry – Jamie Heaslip’s childish behaviour in the post-match press conference suggests they will be doing so as well – and it puts them firmly on the back foot in a pool that many believe they won’t progress from anyway. Having lost one home match, to reach the knock-outs it seems likely they need to win two away matches on top of their remaining home games. And based on how they played on Sunday can you see that happening?

Leinster have been in jams before, such as when they managed to wrestle the 2011 Heineken Cup Final back from the jaws of defeat in Cardiff, but this is a new Leinster and they look vulnerable. They are not as bad as Sunday made them out to be, far from it. That said, they have problems to address that they didn’t have in previous seasons and Leo Cullen has his work cut out for him.

As a final thought: if Leinster thought Sunday was bad, they’ll feel even worse when they remember they’ll be seeing Piutau on a regular basis next season. Based on how he has started his brief stint at Wasps, it looks even more foolish that the All Blacks did not have him in their World Cup squad – his nimble footwork and powerful upper body strength made a mockery out of the Leinster defence for the entire game, and in the end his man of the match performance was capped off with a try at the death.

He looks lethal, and an unbelievable signing for Ulster.